The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-08
A MURDERoUs MANIAC.
Captain and Crew Terrorized by
Mad Swedish Sailor.
From the Neo Yori; 81


From. the NeD York Sun.
The officers and crew of the three-masted
schooner Nettie Champion have lived in
state of terror since they left Philadelphia
on their way to Boston three days ago. The
schooner is owned in Philadelphia, and
Capt Shaw secured most of his crew at
that port. Among the new crew was Peter
Larsen, a stalwart young Swede. de de
Veloped some eccentrlcltleS Immediately
after the schooner left port. The captain
sent him aloft to unfurl the foretopsail He
did SO, but failed to secure it, and tine sail
snapped the reefing block. He came down
perfectly unconcerned, and when the cap
tain asked him whether he had finished he
answered coolly:
"Oh, yes; that's all right. I've done all
the work I'm a-going to-"
lie acted SO strangely that the Captain,
who is a mild man, did not think it best to
use force. Larsen went to his berth and
remained there the rest of the day, only
coming out to get his meals The rest of
the crew were By this time thoroughly
afraid of him, and would not go near. him.
He kept to his berth the second day, but on
Tuesday night when the schooner was off
Fire Island he walked out on deck The
Captain and first mate were below deck,
eating their supper, and the only men on
deck were the man ut the wheel and deck
hand. Abel English. the steward, was sit
ting IN the doorway of the cooks galley,
with his feet out on deck. Larsen walked
up to him, and, when English first
got sight of him, he was bending
down with his sheath knife in his hand.
English jumped up, but, before he could
get away, Larsen was on top OF him, and
brought down the knife with a sweep upon
his head. English ran out on deck pursued
by the Swede. who is the more agile of the
two, and who soon overlook his victim.
This time he planted the knife into the
stewards back right between the shoulder
blades With cry Of anguish the steward
sank upon the deck The other two men on
deck at the time had witnessed the scene,
end appeared dazed by the mad antics of the
infuriated sailor The latter, apparently
satisfied that he had done for the steward,
started off on a run for the deck hand, hold
ing the dripping knife over his head as he
went. The deck hand rushed down the
stairs to where the captain and mate were
at table. Larsen followed, but seeing the
captain stopped and went back again. The
captain guessing that he would attempt to
murder tine man at the wheel, threw re-
volver to the latter aud told him to shoot II
Larsen should modest him. Larsen advanced
on the wheelman, but seeing the pistol,
turned around and ran into the forecastle.
A sailor followed him and slammed shut the
came up and nailed boards across the door
and windows. Then they helped the cook
to his berth. Although serious, neither of
his wounds was fatal.
A council of war was held, and it was
determined to put into this port and get rid
of the dangerous prisoner. Yesterday the
schooner dropped anchor in Buttermilk
Channel, just below Governors Island, and
set her flag upside down as signal of dis
tress The police boat Patrol went down to
investigate When Capt. Smith and De-
tectives Wood and Collins boarded the
schooner they found the crew i'll a democrat
lied condition Capt. Smith released Lar
sen, and found him very weak. His actions
and answers to questions clearly suggested
insanity When asked why he had stabbed
the steward he answered, because he had
not given him enough to eat. The other
sailors denied this He was locked up in
the Church Street station to await the re-
suit of English's injuries. He will be
arraigned before United States Commits
Sioner Shields to-day.